The final test operation in the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuits is critical in terms of the cost per device. In some cases, the labor and other costs associated with this operation are the largest single contributor to the total manufacturing cost of the device. Significant contributors to the high cost of final test are the capital cost to throughput ratio of the equipment involved and the labor necessary to oversee the operation of the equipment.
The handling portion of the final test operation involves receiving a large number of sleeves each containing a plurality of untested parts, unloading the parts from the sleeves into some type of handling apparatus, operating the apparatus to singulate the parts and present them in a known orientation to a test station, sorting the parts into several categories based on the results of the test operation and loading the tested and sorted parts back into sleeves.
The present generation of integrated circuit handlers useful for final test and related operations typically, but not universally, use manual labor for the portions of the task involving sleeve handling. In addition, current handlers are almost universally gravity-driven, which places severe limitations on the speed with which parts can move within the handler and, thus, on the throughput of the handler.